Long before the UTEP football head coaching job came open with Mike Price's Nov. 19 retirement announcement, Sean Kugler was a top candidate.

The Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach was also the last man interviewed for the job, as he didn't meet with athletic director Bob Stull until Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

Within 24 hours of what ended as a near-midnight meeting, the two-week search was over.

"The moment this opened up I was interested," Kugler said Monday at an introductory news conference at the Larry K. Durham Sports Center on the University of Texas at El Paso campus. "When I was contacted I was asked my interest level and I said very much. When they offered the job I didn't hesitate."

With that, Kugler became the first former Miner to take the football head coaching job since Walter Milner had it for one season in 1942.

"He always told me there was only one head-coaching job he aspired to, that was the UTEP Miners," said his close friend Nate Poss, the director of football operations. "He always said when the time is right. Right now, the time is right."

Advertisement

This is Kugler's third stint at UTEP. He was an offensive lineman here from 1985 to 1988, the final three years when Stull was the head coach, then he held several coaching positions from 1993 to 2000.

He has been in the National Football League, mostly as an offensive line coach, for 11 of the 12 years since he left UTEP, with the exception coming in 2006 when he was the offensive line coach for a Boise State University team that went undefeated and upset the University of Oklahoma in a classic Fiesta Bowl.

UTEP athletic director Bob Stull, left, welcomed Sean Kugler to the podium after formally introducing him as UTEP's new head football coach Monday at the Larry K. Durham Center on the UTEP campus. (Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times)

Kugler will finish his season at Pittsburgh before returning to El Paso. The Steelers' last regular season game is Dec. 30, but they are also in playoff contention.

"I have an obligation to finish out the season with the Steelers," he said. "There's no possible way I'd leave the players at midseason; I owe that to them. I'm hoping it's later rather than sooner.

"I'll be doing double-time, double-duty."

His first task will be to hire a staff and he spent Monday interviewing current assistants after meeting with the team for 20 minutes starting at 8 a.m.

"As quickly as possible," Kugler said of when the staff will come together. "I enjoyed meeting all the ones I haven't met before. I can't give a time frame, sometimes this takes time."

He said reports that Washington State linebackers coach Jeff Choate had already been hired were inaccurate -- Kugler said he still hasn't signed a contract to make his own hiring official -- and he said some members of the current staff would be retained.

With current offensive line coach Brian Natkin, that seems highly likely. Kugler was the tight ends coach when the eventual All-American tight end Natkin was being recruited in 1994 and was the offensive line coach for the rest of Natkin's playing career.

"He's probably the best coach I've ever been around in terms of teaching and getting us ready to play," Natkin said. "I would love the opportunity to stay. Everybody who played for him, every team he coached, they'd do anything for him."

Quick decision

Stull said he interviewed five people, including current defensive coordinator Andre Patterson, who appears on his way out. The last one interviewed was Kugler on Thursday night.

The interview began in a Pittsburgh hotel room at 9 p.m., after Kugler concluded his day's work with the Steelers. It ended around 11:30 p.m.

Stull offered Kugler the job the next day, and he immediately accepted. Stull returned to Pittsburgh on Sunday, watched the Steelers play San Diego, then flew with Kugler back to El Paso as soon as that game was over.

"Nobody is a better teacher than Sean," Stull said, echoing a common sentiment on this day. "It's good to bring someone back who has ties to UTEP and the El Paso community. He and his wife, Patsy, really love living here."

Kugler's position coach during his playing days at UTEP was Andy Reid, currently the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

"I think UTEP has gotten a tremendous football coach and one with high standards, a phenomenal personality and a great football mind," Reid said in a statement released by UTEP. "He also has a vested interest in the university, having gone to school there and having played for Bob Stull.

"There's a great connection. I know he's going to do a great job for UTEP."

The team was united behind Patterson's candidacy, but warmed to Kugler after meeting him at 8 a.m. Monday.

With his background on the offensive line, "it doesn't get better than that," offensive tackle Brander Craighead said. "I'm excited. This is a great opportunity. This is exactly what I think we need as a team, a professional offensive line coach."

"My first impression was good," safety Wesley Miller said. "I'm excited about what he'll bring to the program."

"I like his philosophy, I like his background," end James Davidson said. "He has a really nice résumé. Nobody can replace coach Patterson and coach Price, but I hope he keeps a lot of people on the staff.

"Change can be a good thing, and if we have to change, this is the guy."

Kugler said he will bring in a two-back, "quarterback-friendly" offense that heavily utilizes tight ends, and while he said a defense would take shape after he hires a coordinator, presumably Choate, he said his background is with a 3-4 and a 4-2 nickel defense.

He talked more about a mindset he wants to establish at UTEP.

"Ultimately we're going to have to win games, be successful, put a product on the field fans want to see," he said. "It's going to take a lot of hard work and dedication.

"I want to see a team that displays mental toughness, I want to see a team that plays smart, I want to see a team that plays with passion, I want to see a team that embraces each other."

What that team will see, Kugler said, is a coach with an even keel like the head coach he currently works for, Mike Tomlin.

"Try not to have anxiety, try to keep a level head," he said. "We lost three linemen this year (to injury) and you can't panic. Players see you panic. You have to be level-headed to be a coach.

"(Tomlin) is always the same and players respond to that. Under any circumstances he's not going to panic."

Kugler also hinted at a management style that will involve a lot of trust with his assistants.

"I will not be a coordinator, I am not going to call plays," Kugler said. "As a coach I always respond to a coach who lets you coach. I'm not a micromanager, I'll let these guys be themselves."

Throughout his news conference, he kept coming back to his love of this city, even noting with a grin that two of his three children were conceived here.

Nineteen-year-old Robert is an offensive lineman at Purdue, and 17-year-old Patrick is a Michigan offensive lineman commitment. Kugler played off any notion that Robert or Patrick would join him here.

Sean and Patsy's daughter, Kali, is 11.

"I can't wait to make El Paso home again," Kugler said.

He'll have to wait another month, but the day is coming soon.

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; 546-6359. Follow him on Twitter @bretbloomquist